Why We Like It

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is considered one of the best beginner travel credit cards and with good reason. For a low $95 annual fee, you're getting 2x on travel and dining, an excellent sign-up bonus and valuable travel benefits like primary rental car insurance. It's the perfect choice for someone looking to dip their toes into the world of points and miles.

Top Benefits

$0 foreign transaction fees

1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs

Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises though Chase Ultimate Rewards

More Information

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®

2X points on travel and dining at restaurants worldwide & 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.

Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 toward travel

Get unlimited deliveries with a $0 delivery fee and reduced service fees on orders over $12 for a minimum of one year on qualifying food purchases with DashPass, DoorDash's subscription service. Activate by 12/31/21.

Earn 5X points on Lyft rides through March 2022. That’s 3X points in addition to the 2X points you already earn on travel.

Regular APR15.99%-22.99% Variable

Annual Fee$95

Balance Transfer FeeEither $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.

Recommended CreditExcellent/Good

Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card overview

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great pick for the beginner and the frequent traveler. Valued at $1,200 by TPG, the Chase Sapphire Preferred has superb travel benefits, double points on certain purchases, and a 60,000 point sign up bonus.

Card Rating*: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

*Card Rating is based on the opinion of TPG’s editors and is not influenced by the card issuer.

Who is this card for?

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is designed to work for travelers both frequent and infrequent. It can benefit both the points and miles expert and the one just starting out. With a $95 annual fee, it’s not an expensive card, which makes it a good choice for a beginner. But since the card earns Ultimate Rewards points — one of the top flexible points currencies — you’ll also find this card goes a long way if you’re an experienced loyalty program whiz looking to get maximum value.

Chase Sapphire Preferred sign-up bonus

New cardholders earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months. According to TPG valuations, that sign-up bonus is worth a whopping $1,200 dollars in travel rewards. That’s more valuable than the premium Chase Sapphire Reserve‘s sign-up bonus.

Spending $4,000 in just three months may sound like a hard task for some budgets, and it does mean charging $1,334 to your card each month from your approval date. But there are plenty of ways

With 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points at your disposal, this card opens up a ton of redemption options. If you’re savvy with Chase’s transfer partners, you could score a one-way nonstop flight to London in United Polaris for 60,000 points. Or, you could book a two-night villa stay at the Park Hyatt Maldives for the same price. The point is, this bonus alone offers a ton of value for cardholders and can open the doorway for redemptions that average travelers otherwise may not have been able to afford.

How to earn points?

The Sapphire Preferred comes with two basic but popular bonus categories. You’ll earn 2 points per dollar spent on both travel and dining, and the way those categories are defined is one area where the card offers a lot of flexibility. The travel category on the CSP is broad, encompassing a great number of purchases that you might not think of as travel expenses.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

There isn’t a strict mathematical formula at work here. At some point we’d like to create a system that could calculate a precise value based on award availability, fees, award levels and ease of accrual, but for now these valuations are based on a combination of how much TPG would pay to buy points if given the opportunity, and the overall value I could get from redeeming them.

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Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

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The credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. Please view our advertising policy page for more information.

Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.